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3 Jan 2014

For most tourists planning a visit to Paris, the dream vacation rhymes with romance, the Eiffel Tower, and croissants. However, if you are a film aficionado in search of breaking stereotypes and finding ‘the authentic’, a visit to The French Cinémathéque should be at the top of your ‘To See in Paris’ List!

Located in the vicinity of Paris Bercy (easily accessible through Metro Lines 6 and 14) this is where all film lovers, nostalgic of the Godard, Truffaut, and Méliés times meet. Amongst its films screenings, library, museum, and exhibitions, strolling through La Cinémathéque guaranties an immersive journey into the history of world cinema. Terry Gilliam, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Tim Burton and most of the famous filmmakers you can think of have given lectures and visited this site at least once.

This brief introduction brings me to the Cinémathéque’s current exhibition, which I was lucky to see over Christmas: The Cinema of Jean Cocteau (1889-1963). Amateurs of the fantasy and surrealist genre, if you do not recognise this name, run to your closest film library to watch his most famous masterpieces, I guarantee you will not be disappointed:

La Belle et La Bête (Beauty and the Beast)

Orphée (Orpheus)

Le Sang D’un Poète (The Blood of a Poet)

The exhibition displays exceptional items: original film costumes, photographs, posters, and interviews; a real peak behind the scenes of his most famous films. It also outlines Cocteau’s impact on future generations of filmmakers. As a strong supporter of the young French generation of filmmakers in the 1950s, Cocteau actively promoted precursive ideas of the French New Wave One of the movement’s most famous filmmaker, François Truffaut, recognised Jean Cocteau as a mentor and even took part in the making of his last feature film Le Testament D’Orphée (Orpheus’ Testament). Lasting until February 2014, the exhibition will satisfy all visitors from the ones familiar with Cocteau to the curious new comers who will discover the artist’s fantastical world.